‘Balm in Gilead’ is a play written by American playwright Lanford Wilson. Set in the 1960s, this realistically staged production saw the entire play set in a ‘24 Hours’ diner, with hints to outside life demonstrated by a black street on the floor which encircled the entire performance space. The play is Brechtian in nature, exhibiting as more of a study of a situation than trying to convey a plot to an audience. However, the plot which does exist centres on Joe – a drug dealer – who meets a young girl called Darlene who has just moved to New York. Over three nights we see how these two interact; Joe pushing her away due to his overwhelming debt owed to a mob boss called Chuckles. Darlene, on the other hand, realises that she can’t handle big-city life and succumbs to the charms of some of the men who hang around the diner, who see her as an easy target to prey upon. The play concludes with Joe finding a way of paying Chuckles back, however just as he goes to return the money he is killed by one of the dealer’s thugs. The play ends with all the characters droning their lines from the first scene over and over again in a circle, implying that their lives are stuck in a circle of depravity and destitution.
There were several design decisions that were made about this production that would prove challenging to the electrics department, with which I would work as Deputy Production Electrician. One of the main challenges would be creating a neon sign which would hang on the back wall of the diner. Others included fitting pendant lights within the space, creating police siren effects, and trying to effectively light the entire performance area whilst avoiding the low hanging girders and garlands that cluttered the air above the diner.